PRIVATE DAYCARE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PLAN
YKSITYISEN PÄIVÄHOIDON VARHAISKASVATUS
JA TOIMINTASUUNNITELMA
2014
INDEX
1. FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARLY EDUCATION PLAN
1.1 Overview of Kaivopuisto International Kindergarten
1.2 Description of the Environment
1.3 Purpose of the Education Plan
1.4 Pedagogical Goals
1.5 Fundamental Values
2. OUTLINE OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
2.1 Play, Music and Movement
2.2 Language Development
2.3 Mathematics
2.4 Environmental Education
2.5 Ethics
2.6 Drama
2.7 Creative Activities
3. EDUCATIONAL METHODS
3.1 Methodological Characteristics
3.2 Basic Care
3.3 Independent Activities
3.4 Guided Activities
3.5 Provisions for Special Education
4. EDUCATIONAL CO-OPERATION
4.1 Parental Co-operation
4.2 Co-operation with Other Schools
5. METHODS OF EVALUATION
5.1 Evaluation of Educational Development
6. ESIKOULU
6.1 Plan for 6 Year Old Children
7. MONTHLY THEMES FOR 2014
7.1 Topics of Study for the School Year
1. FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARLY EDUCATION PLAN
1.1 Overview of Kaivopuisto International Kindergarten
Kaivopuisto International Kindergarten uses an adaption of the Montessori Early Childhood
teaching method for Finnish/Swedish speaking children learning English as a second language. The
preschool/esikoulu program is an extension of the Montesori classroom within the school, based on
the formal techniques of reading, writing and numeracy.
1.2. Description of the Environment
During the school day the children may choose any of the Montessori educational activities from
the shelves in the classroom. There are always opportunities for the children to draw, paint, play and
socialise with the materials available.
1.3 Purpose of the Education Plan
The Montessori curriculum provides the child with developmentally appropriate materials between
the ages of 3 to 7 years. As young children develop their mastery of the simple tasks, they begin to
show interest in the more challenging activities in the classroom. The adult supervisors guide the
children towards an understanding of these tasks.
1.4 Pedagogical Goals
The general goal of the program is to see that the child is adequately prepared for entrance into the
formal Ala-aste/Year 1 school. The child will have a full understanding of literacy (independent
writing, phonic spelling, early reading and numeracy (addition and subtraction facts 0 – 20, number
reading 0 – 999). The child will behave in a social and emotionally age appropriate manner, and
will be able to perform all physical tasks in a developentally appropriate way.
1.5 Fundamental Values
The Montessori classroom contains an array of early childhood educational materials. Each day the
children are free to choose any of these materials from the shelves. The adult supervisors are
available to all the children for assistance. When the child initiates the learning task, the teacher is
presented with the optimal opportunity for teaching early childhood concepts to the child. Freedom
of choice is central to all tasks undertaken by the children at the school.
2. OUTLINE OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
2.1 Play, Music and Movement
Play is regarded as an essential element of early childhood development at the school. The children
are exposed to adult-supervised group games plus unstructured play sessions every day. It is
understood that children need to play for the healthy development of their social, emotional and
physical growth.
The school day consists of three circle times, during which the children sing a variety of songs in
English. Music time is a weekely event in which the children may dance to recorded music and play
along to familiar songs with percussion intruments.
For gross motor development, the children spend a minimum of 2 hours in Kaivopuisto Park each
day, where climbing, running and jumping skills are enhanced by a selection of age-appropriate
play equipment. Difficulties with fine or gross motor skills are easily identified in this environment
and simple interventions can be made in the clasroom or outside to help the children strengthen
their motor skills.
2.2 Language Development
The children are encouraged to communicate with each other and the teaching staff in any language.
As their competency in the mother tongue grows, the English second language begins to be used by
the children. Daily routines, such as Circle Time, Lunch, Outside Play and Snack Time provide the
children with regular exposure to the English language, encouraging an early receptive language
comprehension, followed by a simple format to begin verbal communications in English.
2.3 Mathematics
All children are exposed to counting and number games at Circle Time on a daily basis. Simple
number activities are constantly available in the classroom. Esikoulu children master symbol and
quantity number skills through the Montessori didactic materials. Abstract operations, addition and
subtraction, are gradually introduced over the course of the esikoulu year, leading to an ageappropriate mastery of number facts 0 – 20. Elementary Montessori school materials, such as the
hundred board and the golden beads, are used to develop an understanding of the base 10 decimal
system and its associated vocabulary (10’s, 100’s, 1000’s).
2.4 Environmental Education
The geography shelves and nature table provide the children with tasks pertaining to life on the
planet. The aquarium and terrarium give the children the opportunity to feed animals and observe
their behaviour. Story time often includes children’s books on biology and earth science. The
children care for the plants in the classroom by watering and re-potting them when needed. Seeds
are planted in the springtime, and the children are allowed to bring small insects or flowers from the
park to be shown at school.
2.5 Ethics
Following the Montessori Method, Kaivopuisto International Kindergarten encourages children to
develop acceptance and respect for each other, regardless of linguistic, cultural or age differences.
The children learn to see the natural benefits which come from being considerate of each other in
the learning environment: trust, friendship and acceptance. The school celebrates all major religious
holidays: Christmas, Easter, Lent, Midsummer, and Chinese New Year. However, specific religious
instruction is considered to be a family matter and is not part of the curriculum at the school.
2.6 Drama
During the summer months, older children at the school are encouraged to present short dramatic
performances to the entire group using puppets or themselves as performers. The children can use
outside play time as their practice session before presenting their play to the younger children
during afternoon circle time. A performance of singing traditional songs is given by the children to
their parents at the annual Christmas and Midsummer school parties.
2.7 Creative Activities
Creative activities such as painting, drawing, modelling clay, cutting with scissors and making
models are always available to the children during the school day. There is no limitation placed on
the children as to how many pictures they wish to paint or how much time they need to spend on
making a model. It is essential, however, that the children clean up their area after they have
finished working, and that the materiels are returned to the correct places in the classroom.
3. EDUCATIONAL METHODS
3.1 Methodological Characteristics
The Montessori learning environment at Kaivopuisto International Kindergarten is child centered.
During the school day some simple rules are made in order to maintain a safe and peaceful
environment for everyone in the group. These are:
-
Use your inside voices (no shouting or screaming)
It is not safe to run inside (no running)
Keep your hands to yourself (don’t disturb others when they are busy)
Be careful with your words (no teasing)
Put your work back in the same place when you have finished (maintaining the learning
environment)
These guidelines help the children to respect each other and play safely together.
3.2 Basic Care
The children are encouraged to act as independently as possible in the area of personal hygene.
From an early age, the children are taught the importance of handwashing with soap, using their
own towel to dry their hands adequately before eating. The children are encouraged to eat using a
knife and fork without assistance from the adult supervisors. The older children are given adequate
time to dress and undress themselves before and after trips to the park, but the younger children are
given as much help as they need. There is no sleeping time during the day at the school. Younger
children may rest in their strollers if they are tired after playing in the park.
3.3 Independent Activities
The child centered approach in the Montessori classroom emphasises the individual nature of each
child and allows for complete flexibility within the early childhood developmental phases. When a
young child becomes interested in reading, art or languages, the materials are there for the child to
use and the teacher to teach. Furthermore, older children at the school will often help younger
children in their work, without any prompting from the teaching staff. The freedom of movement in
the classroom aims to maximise the learning opportunities for all children at the school, every day.
3.4 Guided Activities
In addition to the regular daily activities of Circles Time and Esikoulu instruction, the school
organises regular visits to places of cultural significance during the school year. These are day trips
using public transport which the entire group participates in. The trips include visits to the theatre,
museums, art galleries, and places of interest such as the Botanical Gardens or Suomenlinna.
Guided tours of these places help the children to raise their awareness of their surroundings and the
history of their city.
3.5 Provisions for Special Education
The school is open to all children, and is prepared to be as flexible as neccessary to accomodate the
individual needs of each child.
4. EDUCATIONAL CO-OPERATION
4.1 Parental Co-operation
The school makes every effort to provide the parents of the children with an open line of
communication. The adult supervisors and the parents are encouraged to have an open and honest
relationship concerning the child and his or her school day. Regular monthly meetings are held at
the school for parents and teachers, and two annual 45 minute parent-teacher conferences take place
before Christmas and Easter to discuss the progress of the child and to generate edcational goals for
the forthcoming year.
4.2 Co-operation with Other Schools
Parental communication is especially important for the esikoulu children at the school in order to
provide these parents with current information on the school options for their children entering alaaste or international schools. Some children will be prepared for entrance examinations set by
English language programmes in the Helsinki City school system (Töölön, Kulosaaren, Ressun,
Maunulan, The English School etc.). Children attending local Finish or Swedish speaking schools
will also be provided with information pertaining to the expectations for their children in these
classes
4.3 Additional Activities
The school provides written or verbal reports to agencies such as Neuvola, School Psychologists or
Elementary Schools, here in Finland or Overseas, at the request of parents. The goal for the
teachers, parents and children is to make the transition from Esikoulu to Elementary school as
smooth as possible.
Kaivopuisto International Kindergarten is affiliated to the Suomen Montessori Yhdistys and the
London Montessori Centre, England. The school acts as a teacher training site for the following
institutions: Helsingin Yliopisto, Laurea Polytechnic, Metropolia Polytechnic and Stadia
Polytechnic. Student trainees and their supervisors are often at the school during the
year.
5. METHODS OF EVALUATION
5.1 Evaluation of Educational Development
Children at the school under the age of 6 years are evaluated informally over the course of the
school year. A list of categories (Social, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Language) is given to
each adult supervisor for each child. Observations in each of these categories are noted, and the text
is used as a basis for the parent-teacher conference.
At the esikoulu age it is possible to use a more formal method of evaluation, as the child is
beginning to perform more abstract tasks using pencil and paper. Again, the adult supervisors
observe the five categories, with more emphasis placed on the intellectual progress of the child.
Simple tools for evaluation include sight reading (flash cards), mental arithmetic, number word
problems, spelling tests, and independent writing tasks. Formal normed test batteries from
mathematics and reading textbook series (British Key Stage One), used in the esikoulu program, are
also administered to the children. Results from these tests are gathered and also used as the basis for
the parent conference. The individualised nature of the Montessori early childhood educational system allows for
interventions to be made on behalf of the child if there are any observed difficulties with academic
skills during the sixth year. Due to the freedom of movement in the classroom, there is always the
possibility to work with a child on a one-to-one basis in order to provide assistance with learning a
specific task.
6. ESIKOULU
6.1 Plan for 6 Year Old Children
During the 4 hour esikoulu session every morning, the 6 year old children will be presented with
several pencil and paper tasks. The teacher will explain the processes needed to complete the tasks,
and the esikoulu children will then work in a small group to follow the exercises independently. On
completion of these tasks, the work will be checked for understanding by the esikoulu teacher, and
then filed away in the child’s folder. The work is taken home once a week to be reviewed by the
child’s parents. Additional esikoulu papers are available in the classroom for children who choose to
do more work, as many do.
In addition to using age-appropriate Key Stage One texts, the learning of concepts in Esikoulu is
enhanced by relevant materals from the Montessori classroom. These include:
Sandpaper letters and Numerals
Unifix Cubes
The Moveable Alphabet
The Teen Boards
The Hundred Board
The Golden Beads
The Addition Strip Board
Before entering formal education at the age of 7 years, children at Kaivopuisto International
Kindergarten show a comprehensive understanding of numeracy, early reading and independent
writing in their mother tongue and in the English language. The children leave the program as
inquisitive and caring individuals, with self motivation towards the learning process.
7. MONTHLY THEMES FOR 2014-2015
7.1 Topics of Study for the School Year
The school will present a variety of themes to the children during the year to support the
educational goals of the program. These topics will be presented to all the children at circle time
gatherings, and activities will be introduced into the classroom work space in the following ways to
develop the child’s understanding of the theme:
- Storytelling of related children’s literature
- Singing of Songs related to the theme
- Creative tasks (painting, construction, model making)
- Theme-related writing and drawing tasks
- Decoration of the classroom (mobiles, posters, window painting)
- Group games and children’s presentations related to the theme
- Field Trips
Thematic Units for this school year will be:
January
Wintertime
Snow and Ice
February
Valentines Day
Chinese New Year
March
Birds
Seed Planting
April
Spring Time
Making Masks
May
Mother’s Day
Flowers
June
Trees
The Solar System
August
Summer time in Finland
September
Autumn Season
Harvest Time
October
Halloween
Water
November
Father’s Day
Transport
December
Finland
Christmas
Teachers and Children will give two presentations of songs and dance to the parents of the school.
A Christmas performance will be given at the end of December 2014, and a Summertime
performance will be given at the end of June 2014.